Current Employee - Enterprise Architect in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England (UK)

Current Employee - Enterprise Architect in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England (UK)

I have been working at Telefónica full-time (more than 5 years)

Pros

Very approachable people at almost all levels. Nice environments to work in. Not overly process driven. Opportunities to change departments and career orientation for those who take the initiative.

Cons

Now in a very mature market, the company is searching itself and struggles for a coherent strategy. Generally delusional about its ability to crack open new markets in a short time. A major re-org every 6 months (5 CIOs in 3 years). There is a tendency for preparing big strategies and presentations but in reality there is only ever an appetite for "low hanging fruit" and "quick wins" - The company does not have the stomach for real changes. Now operates within severe budget limitations for any project. There is a culture of "urgency" and changing direction. i.e. everything is always urgent, but then tends to take longer because of lack of planning or to be canned altogether because something else has become urgent. Culture of showing dedication by sending emails long after hours and immediate answers are increasingly appreciated or even expected.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Stop being delusional about start-up projects and initiatives to enter new markets to save the company within a very short time span (although some of those initiatives are definitely worth trying). Instead recognise that there is still immense value for years to come in the core business, but only by having the courage to re-configur this part of the organisation drastically and invest in those changes - cultural changes, systematically simplify and drive cost out (which requires investment!), etc - instead of changing the CIO and the names of the teams on the org chart every 6 months.

O2 UK: See what you can do. What an amazing brand and great place to work. Fun, exciting, dynamic, innovative. You can reminisce about all these good things because it is all gone and the company is managed from an impersonal meeting room north of Madrid like a Spanish government organisation. Pay is good, the good pension is gone and they have an extreme version of hot-desking implemented in Slough that may rival Nordic traditions of flexible working. You can work from home and expect to travel to Madrid on a regular basis...

Cons

The company is managed like a government department; extreme micromanagement and medieval promotion methods. Those in the circle of trust are promoted and congratulated in numerous employee events.